China's Space Program News Thread

[Temstar]

Pardon my ignorance, right now, the 2 Tianzhou are still attached to Tianhe?

Yes indeed, attached to forward and aft docking ports, which is why Shenzhou-13 will be using the nadir docking port.

 

[taxiya]

Pardon my ignorance, right now, the 2 Tianzhou are still attached to Tianhe?

Yes. Tianzhou 2 is connected to the front port where the hub module is. Tianzhou 3 is connected to the back of Tianhe core module. Shenzhou 13 will dock to the radial port of the hub module this time.

 

[getready]

I missed their explanation for midnight launch, something to do with optimal docking ?

 

[iantsai]

1 minute to launch!

 

[Temstar]

I missed their explanation for midnight launch, something to do with optimal docking ?

The vehicle has to launch into the same orbital plane as the station, meaning you can only launch if the station is about to overfly the launch site. This happens I think around once a day or something like that.

 

[iantsai]

Start!

 

[KampfAlwin]

Liftoff of Shenzhou-13!

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1449048739562278914

 

[KampfAlwin]

 

[iantsai]

Shenzhou-13 separated with CZ-2 stage 2 and entered the orbit.

 

[iantsai]

Wang Yaping's daughter's waving good luck to her mummy.